fix windows unicode separator crash in search output

Author: Roni Vegh

mempalace/searcher.py

@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@
 """
 
 import logging
+import sys
 from pathlib import Path
 
 import chromadb
@@ -18,6 +19,20 @@ class SearchError(Exception):
     """Raised when search cannot proceed (e.g. no palace found)."""
 
 
+def _separator_line(width: int = 56) -> str:
+    """
+    Return a separator line safe for the active stdout encoding.
+
+    Windows cp1252 terminals cannot encode the Unicode box-drawing char.
+    """
+    encoding = getattr(sys.stdout, "encoding", None) or "utf-8"
+    try:
+        "─".encode(encoding)
+        return "─" * width
+    except Exception:
+        return "-" * width
+
+
 def search(query: str, palace_path: str, wing: str = None, room: str = None, n_results: int = 5):
     """
     Search the palace. Returns verbatim drawer content.
@@ -70,6 +85,7 @@ def search(query: str, palace_path: str, wing: str = None, room: str = None, n_r
     if room:
         print(f"  Room: {room}")
     print(f"{'=' * 60}\n")
+    separator = _separator_line()
 
     for i, (doc, meta, dist) in enumerate(zip(docs, metas, dists), 1):
         similarity = round(1 - dist, 3)
@@ -85,7 +101,7 @@ def search(query: str, palace_path: str, wing: str = None, room: str = None, n_r
         for line in doc.strip().split("\n"):
             print(f"      {line}")
         print()
-        print(f"  {'─' * 56}")
+        print(f"  {separator}")
 
     print()
 

tests/test_searcher.py

@@ -4,8 +4,8 @@
 Tests the library-facing search interface (not the CLI print variant).
 """
 
-from mempalace.searcher import search_memories
-
+import io
+from mempalace.searcher import search, search_memories
 
 class TestSearchMemories:
     def test_basic_search(self, palace_path, seeded_collection):
@@ -43,3 +43,31 @@ def test_result_fields(self, palace_path, seeded_collection):
         assert "source_file" in hit
         assert "similarity" in hit
         assert isinstance(hit["similarity"], float)
+
+    def test_cli_search_uses_ascii_separator_on_cp1252_stdout(self, monkeypatch):
+        class _FakeCollection:
+            def query(self, **_kwargs):
+                return {
+                    "documents": [["JWT auth details"]],
+                    "metadatas": [[{"wing": "project", "room": "backend", "source_file": "auth.py"}]],
+                    "distances": [[0.1]],
+                }
+
+        class _FakeClient:
+            def __init__(self, path):
+                self.path = path
+
+            def get_collection(self, _name):
+                return _FakeCollection()
+
+        monkeypatch.setattr("mempalace.searcher.chromadb.PersistentClient", _FakeClient)
+
+        buf = io.BytesIO()
+        fake_stdout = io.TextIOWrapper(buf, encoding="cp1252", errors="strict")
+        monkeypatch.setattr("sys.stdout", fake_stdout)
+
+        search("anything", "/tmp/fake-palace")
+        fake_stdout.flush()
+        output = buf.getvalue().decode("cp1252")
+
+        assert "  " + ("-" * 56) in output